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House Envy: Ex-Piston's mansion has indoor hoops court

In almost any other neighborhood, this 225-foot wide house of former Piston guard Ben Gordon would be biggest, splashiest, most commanding. But in the southwest corner of Oakland Township, the mansion is at rest in a nest of its peers.

House Envy: Ex-Piston's mansion has indoor hoops court

FROM TOP: The six-bedroom 1.6-acre luxury estate owned by former Piston Ben Gordon in Oakland Township. The foyer has a view of the great room and kitchen. A wet bar and banquette area join the formal dining room and updated kitchen. Behind the house, a large pool has fountains and three sections. A view of the great room off the foyer. The fully functioning indoor basketball court entices people to shoot.
(Photo: photos by Kathleen Galligan/Detroit Free Press)

In almost any other neighborhood, this 225-foot wide house of former Piston guard Ben Gordon would be the biggest, splashiest, most commanding. But in the southwest corner of Oakland Township, the mansion is at rest in a nest of its peers.

Orchard Ridge subdivision is an enclave of 20 mansions, all built in the past few years. Six more are under construction here, and three or four buildable lots are left, said Realtor Karen Walls. Strict rules mean all lots are estate-sized, all houses are huge, all architecture is lavish with elaborate rooflines, gables, arches, stone trim.

The compound is encirlced by 13-foot metal gates you couldn't crash through with a truck and a guard stands watch 16 hours a day. For eight hours overnight the gates are locked and a resident must buzz you in.

Who lives here? Mostly executives, Walls said. "People who want the high security."

Listed at $4,189,000, Gordon's house is on target for the area. A neighbor's house is listed at $6.7 million, three others nearby at $3.5 million. As you'd expect from a recently built multi-million-dollar mansion — it has a gorgeous staircase, marble floors, a showplace kitchen and an opulent owner's bath — roman tub, pillars and all.

The drop-dead amenity in Gordon's mansion is its state-of-the art gymnasium. Gordon added this in 2010, after he saw a similar gym at the home of long-time Pistons' executive Joe Dumars.

The gymnasium has three parts — a 3,500-square-foot area that's a National Basketball Association regulation half-court, a 2,000-square-foot workout area and a 1,500-square-foot locker room, complete with hot and cold plunge tubs and a dry sauna.

The floor of the gym was dropped below grade so its ceiling can soar without breaking the house's graceful horizontal roofline. On the house's main floor three spectator rooms look down into the court. These are an open viewing balcony, a sitting room and Gordon's personal office.

Gordon bought the house in 2009 and lived there with his fiancé Sascha Smith and their son Elijah, coming back part time, even after he was traded to the Charlotte Bobcats in 2012. (This July, he signed with the Orlando Magic as a free agent.)

Walls, the Realtor, said Gordon made changes to the house with an eye to its resale value.

"I've seen young sports guys over-personalize a house to where nobody else could really enjoy it. He wanted to keep the elegance," Walls said, noting the crystal lighting fixtures, the quiet country kitchen.

Besides building the gymnasium suite, Gordon finished the house's lower level with a kitchen, a theater and a small crafts room that has built-in cabinets and shelves where Smith wrapped gifts and Gordon viewed game video.

Behind the house, a large pool has fountains and three sections — a shallow kiddie wading pool, a heated spa and a standard adult swimming pool with a basketball hoop at one end.

The owner's suite comes with three sets of walk-in closets. The first room is wrapped with open-faced shelves in ebonized wood. The second has built-in maple cabinets with clothes behind see-through glass doors. The third room conceals what the cabinets and shelves are holding behind cream-colored glazed doors.

But the defining luxury in Ben Gordon's mansion remains the gym.

FROM TOP: The 6-bedroom 1.6 acre luxury estate owned by former Piston Ben Gordon in Oakland Township. The foyer has a view of the great room and kitchen. A wet bar and banquette area join the formal dining room and fully-updated kitchen. Behind the house, a large pool has fountains and three sections.
(Photo:
PHOTOS BY Kathleen Galligan/Detroit Free Press
)

"You really just have to love to have a gym," Walls said. "Everybody who comes here wants to get out on the floor and shoot balls."

Piston mansion

Where: 5174 Barrington, Oakland Township

How much: $4,189,000

Bedrooms: 6

Bathrooms: 6 full, 2 half

Square feet: 13,298, counting the gym space, said to be countable although it starts on the lower level because the ceiling is second-floor height.